Import health standards (IHS)

Import health standards (IHS) are documents issued under section 24A of the Biosecurity Act 1993. They state the requirements that must be met before risk goods can be imported into New Zealand.

Changes to some Standards – November 2018 Update

The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is doing a review of all fresh fruit and vegetable import health standards.

This includes Import Health Standard (IHS) 152.02: Importation and Clearance of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables for Human Consumption.

As part of the review, MPI is developing new format commodity standards. MPI is converting all fresh fruit and vegetable schedules in IHS 152.02 and individual country: commodity standards to the new format.

We were expecting the review to be completed by the end of October 2018, however the work has been delayed. We will provide more information as available and continue to provide monthly updates on the progress of the review.

When the new commodity standards are issued, MPI will revoke IHS 152.02.

Note: This is an administrative format change only. It will not affect any existing import measures or requirements.

IHS guidance documents

MPI has produced guidance documents to help you meet the requirements of import health standards. While you do not have to comply with the guidance, MPI considers the guidance best practice. Where available, these are listed with the related standard. Click on the '+' sign to see related documents.

Revoked import health standards

During the transition to a new import health standard (IHS), the standards being revoked will be listed as related documents of the new IHS. You can search for any IHS using its short code, but if it's an IHS about to be revoked it will appear as a related document under the new IHS. Click on the '+' sign to see related documents.